PHOTOGRAPHS of Worcester's Public Hall regularly appear in the Worcester News. It does not look a particularly attractive building but I recognise its historical significance.

As a boy, I could not understand the row of circles below the parapet - along two sides as well as the front. My father, who trained as a carver, of wood rather than stone, knew the answer.

There must have been a cash problem. The circles had been intended to be laurel wreaths. Sure enough, just one had been completed - I believe it was the first one on the corner that faced Lowesmoor.

Incidentally, my father's carving included work on the interior of the Titanic, the organ loft in Blenheim Palace and, his only piece of stone, the 'exit' sign of a Birmingham cinema.

ERIC AUSTIN,

Hallow,

Near Worcester.